MOSCOW, November 21 (Itar-Tass) —— The Basmanny District Court of Moscow will try the requests for an absentia arrest of the foster parents of Vanya Skorobogatov, 7, who was tortured to death in the United States, the press service of the court told Itar-Tass on Monday.
“The requests were made in the court, which will try them at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Moscow time on November 28,” the press service said.
The Russian Investigative Committee charged in absentia the Craver spouses with murder accusations of Vanya Skorobogatov in the US and puts them on the international wanted list through the Interpol.
“Today the main investigation department of the Russian Investigative Committee accused the spouses Michael John and Nannette Louise Cravers under Article 105 Part 2 points v and zh for murder of an underage child, which was in the hopeless position, by a criminal group,” spokesman for the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said. “The detectives found that the spouses, which adopted a Russian citizen Vanya Skorobogatov, killed him.”
“The relevant documents were submitted in the Interpol National Central Bureau under the Russian Interior Ministry, on the basis of which the accused were put on the international wanted list in all Interpol member-countries seeking to find the place, where they are staying, detain and extradite them for the investigation in Russia,” he said.
“The investigation continues,” Markin said.
Vanya Skorobogatov, 7, which US foster parents Michael and Nannette Cravers adopted together with his twin sister from the orphanage in Chelyabinsk in 2009, died on August 25, 2009, of complications caused by a head injury. The medical examination exposed more than 80 injuries on the boy, including 20 wounds on the head. Meanwhile, Vanya was in the state of extreme starvation.
The foster parents claimed that the boy was naughty and had “the tendency for self-torturing.” On August 19, 2009, he fell down and hit the head on the furnace that caused his death, they claimed. The lawyers insisted that Vanya suffered from serious psychiatric disorders and injured himself. For his part, the prosecutors accused the Cravers of the death of the adopted son.
The court of jury found the spouses guilty of premeditated murder. The US Court in Pennsylvania found them guilty of a conspiracy and actions that jeopardize the safety of the child. On November 18, Judge John Kennedy sentenced Michael and Nannette Cravers to 16 months in prison but they were released in the courtroom, because they had already spent more than 18 months in preliminary custody. Meanwhile, the court sentenced the Cravers to five years in suspension, which they will serve in the neighbouring district of Carbon.
An inadequately lenient sentence was passed for the Cravers, Russian Vice-Consul in New York Alexander Otchainov said after the verdict was pronounced. Otchainov would like to recall that a Russian underage citizen Ivan Skorobogatov was really killed.